Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

ceorl

Hist. A Saxon freeman who either possessed no landed property or held land of a thane by paying rent or providing services; after the Norman Conquest, ceorls were reduced to the status of unfree villeins. 0 Under Norman rule, the variant form of the word, churl, became associated with a base peasant, and soon acquired the connotation of a surly, coarse person (hence the modern meaning). -Also termed churl; cirliscus.